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Puerto
Rico
Background Note: Puerto
Rico
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OFFICIAL NAME:
Puerto Rico |
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BACKGROUND:
Populated for centuries by aboriginal peoples, the island was
claimed by the Spanish Crown in 1493 following COLUMBUS' second
voyage to the Americas. In 1898, after 400 years of colonial rule
that saw the indigenous population nearly exterminated and African
slave labor introduced, Puerto Rico was ceded to the US as a result
of the Spanish-American War. Puerto Ricans were granted US citizenship
in 1917. Popularly-elected governors have served since 1948. In
1952, a constitution was enacted providing for internal self government.
In plebiscites held in 1967, 1993, and 1998, voters chose not
to alter the existing political status.
ECONOMY:
Puerto Rico has one of the most dynamic economies in the Caribbean
region. A diverse industrial sector has far surpassed agriculture
as the primary locus of economic activity and income. Encouraged
by duty-free access to the US and by tax incentives, US firms
have invested heavily in Puerto Rico since the 1950s. US minimum
wage laws apply. Sugar production has lost out to dairy production
and other livestock products as the main source of income in the
agricultural sector. Tourism has traditionally been an important
source of income, with estimated arrivals of nearly 5 million
tourists in 2004. Growth fell off in 2001-03, largely due to the
slowdown in the US economy, recovered in 2004-05, but declined
again in 2006-07.
TELEPHONE
SYSTEMS: general assessment: modern system integrated
with that of the US by high-capacity submarine cable and Intelsat
with high-speed data capability
domestic: digital telephone system; cellular telephone
service
international: country code - 1-787, 939; submarine cables
provide connectivity to the US, Caribbean, Central and South America;
satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat
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Puerto Rico
is connected by a system of freeways, expressways, and highways,
all maintained by the Highways and Transportation Authority and
patrolled by the Police of Puerto Rico. The island's metropolitan
area is served by a public bus transit system and a metro system
called Tren Urbano (in English: Urban Train). Other forms
of public transportation include sea-born ferries (that serve
Puerto Rico's archipielago, composed of various substantially-populated
islands) as well as "Carros Públicos" (Mini Bus), similar to
jitney service on the United States.
The island's
main airport, is located in Carolina, and serves the rest of the
island as well as the Virgin Islands. The most recently renovated
airport in the west of Puerto Rico is that of the former Ramey
Military airbase in Aguadilla, Rafael Hernandez Airport, which
has made it easier to explore the towns of the newly created tourism
area known as "Porta del Sol." The main port of the island San
Juan Port.
Various U.S.
laws that govern the domestic and domestic-foreign-domestic transportation
of merchandise and passengers by water between two points in the
U.S. have been extended to Puerto Rico since the initial years
of U.S.'s claim over the sovereignty of the island. For example,
Jones Act of 1920 mandates that vessels that are U.S.-built, U.S.-crewed,
U.S.-citizen owned and appropriately U.S.-documented by the Coast
Guard must be used to transport any merchandise or persons shipped
entirely or partly by water between U.S. points—directly or
indirectly via foreign points. Strictly construed, the Jones Act
refers only to Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (46
USC 883; 19 CFR 4.80 and 4.80(b)), which has come to bear the
name of its original sponsor, Sen. Wesley L. Jones.
Another law,
enacted in 1886, requires essentially the same standards for the
transport of passengers between U.S. points, directly or indirectly
transported through foreign ports or foreign points (46 App. USC
289; 19 CFR 4.80(a)). But, since the mid-1980s, as part of a joint
effort between the cruise ship industry that serves Puerto Rico
and Puerto Rican politicians such as then Resident Commissioner,
U.S. non-voting Representative Baltasar Corrada del RÃo, obtained
a limited-exception since no U.S. cruise ships that were Jones
Act-eligible were participating in said market.
The application
of these coastwise shipping laws and their imposition on Puerto
Rico consist in a serious restriction of free trade and have been
under scrutiny and controversy due to the apparent contradictory
rhetoric involving the U.S. government's sponsorship of free trade
policies around the world, while its own national shipping policy
(Cabotage Law) is essentially mercantilist and based on notions
foreign to free-trade principles.
SOURCE:
CIA World Factbook
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